Floor Care 101 For Families

August 21, 2018

If there’s one thing the experts at tile store Dallas understand, it’s the fact that families are hard on flooring. Kids are messy. They track in dirt, spill things on floors, and even try to ride their bikes or roller skate in the house, leaving behind scuff marks. There’s so much more than you need to watch out for that can subtract from the lifespan of your flooring. Thankfully, we have THREE tips for families to practice good floor care.

1. Follow a Maintenance Schedule

It helps to put yourself on a maintenance schedule. This prevents chaos from taking hold and keeping you from caring for your floors properly. A good schedule looks something like this: sweeping, vacuuming, or running a dust mop over the floors daily, and then doing a slightly deeper vacuuming or sweeping job once a week. Once a month you should clean your tile and wood floors with the recommended cleaning solutions, as well as steam cleaning your carpets. From there, it varies. Wood floors should be sealed every three to five years, and then refinished once every ten years. Tile floors may need to be regrouted every five years or so. Carpeting should be replaced once it’s worn out or has stains that won’t come out.

2. Use the Correct Cleaning Products

There are certain types of cleaners that should only be used with specific flooring. For example, you shouldn’t use products designed for marble on your ceramic tile or wood floors. In many cases, a simple mop and a bucket of soapy water will work for tile and linoleum flooring of all kinds. However, if you want to wash your wood floors properly, you’ll need to use much less water, as too much can soak into the boards and warp them. Properly caring for your flooring is all about understanding what needs to be done and how to do it correctly, lest you end up causing damage. This is what you’re trying to prevent in the first place.

3. Deal With Spills and Stains Immediately

It goes (almost) without saying that if something spills on your floor, you should wipe it up immediately. If you have carpeting, you may have to prevent the spilled substance from setting in and causing a stain. Some things, such as bright colored foods, can stain a tile floor if they’re left on too long, and liquids spilled on wood floors can soak into the boards, leaving unsightly stains that you’ll have a very hard time getting out. There are some solutions here. First, wipe up the spilled substance immediately, getting as much of it up as you can. Next, use some floor cleaner to take care of any remnants. For example, there are sprays designed for carpeting that can help quite a bit. Once the floor dries, it should hopefully be as stain-free as possible.

As you can see, caring for your floors, even if you have kids, isn’t an impossible task. How do you take care of your family’s flooring? Please let us know in the comments!